On the chances of him staying in Phoenix: "Honestly, I have no clue. I couldn’t predict. I don’t know what the future holds at this point. And I’m actually OK with that. I think now’s the time to maybe get some distance from it and try to find a clear perspective on where I am. Until I do that, I couldn’t put a number on it or take a guess on what the chances are on whether I’ll be back or not."LinkHoopsVibe’s Very Quick Call: This is the end of the line for Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns.
Although fit and productive, Nash is in his late thirties and the window to win a championship is quickly closing. In fact, that window is shut if he re-ups with the Suns -as Robert Sarver’s club is starting to rebuild.
So expect the two-time MVP and first ballot Hall of Fame table-setter to head elsewhere for the Mid Level Exception in July when he hits free agency.
A few possibilities:

The Miami Heat could use a veteran point guard; however, Nash would, at times, have to play off the ball if he wanted to successfully partner with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

Mike D’Antoni, the architect of Seven Seconds or Less, is gone, but the New York Knicks could use help even if Jeremy Lin makes a full recovery and re-signs in 2013.

The Raptors need some sort of shtick to sell tickets and keep fans interested. Nash, a patriotic Canadian, could be open to heading north of the border despite Toronto being thousands of miles from his home of Victoria, British Columbia.

There’s an argument that Nash will re-sign with the Suns because his three children live with his ex-wife in Phoenix, Arizona. Of course, family matters. But Nash is, and always has been, highly competitive. His drive took him from being an unheralded Canadian prospect to one of the faces of the NBA.
And his drive will force him to leave Phoenix and most likely sign with a competitive squad next season.
Got thoughts? Well, get at HoopsVibe News in the comment box below.

The best of the best take the stage tonight, putting their talents on display for the world to marvel and enjoy. As much as I'd like to say that I'm speaking of the personalities you see on HoopsVibe, I'm referring to the 2012 NBA All-Stars. While you watch them, chat with us and get our unique perspectives on the game and the things that surround it.

Like we always do at this time, HoopsVibe brings you our thoughts on the NBA's All-Star Saturday Night as it happens. Join us at 8 pm EST as we get things kicked off with commentary more colorful than the All-Star floor itself. Among the things we'll discuss: the always exciting Shooting Stars competition, the riveting Skills Challenge, whether any of us could hit 7 shots in the Three Point Shootout, and whether the Slam Dunk Comp should be put down. You won't wanna miss it. But if you do, it'll be up on the site forever. But it's better in person. Trust me on this.

Couldn't afford a plane ticket, hotel room, tickets to the arena and the corresponding events for All-Star Weekend 2012? Sounds like you're in the same boat as the rest of us. Close your eyes and pretend you're in the O-rena-- or whatever corporate sponsorship name its been given these days-- while you chat with some of HoopsVibe's personalities. We'll talk basketball and whatever else comes up in conversation, live and unfiltered. Check in with us around 9pm EST tonight when we kick things off.

An NBA All-Star is typically regarded as the best of the best, a player with transcendent talent selected to perform on the grandest stage of all. The problem with that is that the best 24 players in the league are never the 24 guys who get the chance to put on sparkly uniforms in the NBA’s midseason classic. Or in this year’s case, the first third of the season classic.

Good news: The NBA waited until early January to release the All-Star Ballot this year. For those of us who have long thought that the ballots should be released closer to the date of the All-Star Game because we truly want the best players in the NBA to represented here, this is a welcome sight.

Basketball fans everywhere rejoice: The lockout is over. We think. We hope. Please, God, let it be so.

There aren't many details, but it appears that the NBA's owners and players have reached a handshake agreement to end the owner-imposed lockout after 149 days of haggling over how to split up billions of dollars. It took a 16-hour negotiation session that stretched into the wee hours of Saturday morning, but it looks like the deal is done. There are still some details that must be worked out, like the dismissal of lawsuits, union recertification and owner and player ratification of the deal, but we just may wake up to meaningful NBA games under our Christmas trees.

I have an admission to make: I've been pretty bored with the NBA 's regular season. It's not that there haven't been plenty of interesting things going on in the league for the last month, I've just been more interested in getting to the 2 1/2 month marathon that is the Playoffs. But in preparation for the postseason, I re-engaged late last week. And as a reward for my rededication, the Lakers decided to make it worth my while. They're still my pick to come out of the Western Conference, but they've definitely added some intrigue to what may have been an otherwise predictable run to the Finals.

No one is immune to the madness of March, not even LeBron James. He has filled out a bracket just like the rest of us-- including the president-- except you and I don't have our own logo gracing the top of our predictions. I suppose that's one of the perks of being the King.

The NBA's stupid technical foul rule and its other stupid technical foul rule have combined to claim their first victim of the season. Dwight Howard-- who, incidentally, is about as amicable and light-hearted as NBA players come-- will miss Orlando's game against the Blazers on Monday becaue he picked up his 16th tech of the year Friday night. He will receive a one game suspension for every second technical he receives from now through the end of the regular season.

On the heels of Jerry Sloan's unexpected retirement, we receive news of more shocking changes in the Utah Jazz franchise: Deron Williams is no longer the team's point guard. He's now going to be running the show in New Jersey, soon to be Brooklyn. All details are not yet available, but the trade basically looks like this:

Whether you're not in front of a TV, want a place where you can comment on the festivities as they happen with other hoop-minded individuals, or just like the way we say things, you should check back in with us here once things get started up tonight. Sign into the chat window below and join what should be an exciting Saturday night.

So you missed the Rookie Game tonight? No worries, it wasn't exactly Must See TV, but there were a few things that you should take note of. You also might tune into NBATV, since they're pretty good about putting up reruns of the weekend's events the night they take place. What follows are a few bullets of interesting information, not the sort of detail you'll get from us with the other events. But like we said, in case you missed it...

With all of his off-court antics, it's easy to forget that Dennis Rodman was an incredible basketball player. When his name is brought up, the memories usually involve his ever-changing hair colors, his romantic dalliances with celebrities, the wedding dress, the attitude, the piercings, the tattoos-- everything but his on-court accomplishments. So it's nice to see that the Detroit Pistons will be retiring his jersey in the spring, remembering his accomplishments on the basketball court and immortalizing his name alongside the franchise's other great names.

The NBA has announced the participants in All-Star Weekend's Three Point Shootout. It's nice to see players in the contest who actually shoot threes well and often. Not that I'm taking another shot at the Dunk Contest. Actually I am. But that's neither here or there. The shooters are listed below:

As the old saying goes, opinions are like buttholes. Everybody has one. Some people even share them with other people, no matter how vile and controversial said opinion is. There's plenty of room for this analogy to go south and become offensive, so I'll cut to the chase and give you my choices for the 2011 All-Star reserves.

They're feeding us some story about how Brandon Jennings is too injured to participate in the potential disaster that will be the 2011 Slam Dunk Contest, but I would like to think that someone in charge in the NBA offices-- maybe even David Stern himself-- has a good head on his or her shoulders and righted an immense wrong by replacing Jennings with DeMar DeRozan on the contest roster. Whatever the reason is, I'm just glad we'll have a known commodity on All-Star Saturday Night instead of a bunch of question marks.

In years past, we've had to wait until right before the Slam Dunk Contest (at least in the preceding week and a half) to find out who would be participating in the once-entertaining finale to All-Star Saturday Night. It made life a little more difficult for guys like me since we didn't have any idea who we'd be writing about. It made life annoying for fans because they had no one to look forward to watching.